Friday, November 28, 2008

That Dr. Anonymous is one busy guy. I tried keeping up with him on his blog, twitter, radio talk show, chat room and something called ustream. I’m exhausted! Dr. A is a great guy and I had a lot of fun doing my "research". Thank you Dr. A for being my Dr. November.

Here’s my interview with Dr. Anonymous:

Q.1 How long have you been involved in blogging and what got you started?

The 2004 Presidential election got me interested in blogging. But, it wasn't until late 2005, when I took off a week from work because of illness when I really started looking at blogs. It took me about 6 months before I got the courage up to start my own blog - and that was on June 19, 2006 with a five line post.

Q.2 Do you remember the first medblog you read?

Back at the end of 2005, I was looking in blogger and put the term "doctor" in the search. The first blog that popped up was "Fat Doctor," and that was the first blog I read.

Q.3 Who was your first celebrity crush?

In grade school, every afternoon between Bugs Bunny and the Super Friends cartoons, there was Gilligan's Island. Now, some guys had this thing for Mary Ann. But, for me, Ginger really tripped my trigger - if you know what I mean.

Q.4 How's the soccer team doing? (or how did they do? I don't know anything about soccer.)

Our season ended in late October. Even though our win/loss record could have been a little better, these are great kids and I always enjoy working with them, their parents, and the coaches. Definitely a way for me to give back to the community, and that's important to me.

Q.5 What's the most embarrassing CD or song you own?

Your younger readers may not be familiar, but recently I was going through some old stuff and found a bunch of cassette tapes. Remember the song "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant? Yup, I owned that one. Explains a lot about me, huh?

Q.6 When did you first know you wanted to be a doctor?

Actually, I can blame my parents for this one. My father is a surgeon. And, he used to take me to the hospital sometimes and I hung out in the doctor's lounge. When I got older I cleaned his office and asked him about some of the instruments he was using and what was the importance of all those manila folders on his desk. So, my first impression of medicine was through my father.

Q.7 When they do the film about you, what actor should they hire to portray you?

It's kind of funny because before I plastered my real face on the blog, I was using pictures of Patrick Dempsey - because those were the early seasons of Grey's Anatomy - and those pics subsequently converted to views on my blog (thanks McDreamy for helping me out).

Q.8 Any body art? Tattoos? Piercings?

I definitely support all of these! Me? Any body art or tats? Nah, not since my plastic surgery. Piercings? I make sure I take them out when I go through airports :)

Q.9 Take us through a typical day of work for you.

The usual "go-to" answer is that there is no "typical day" for me. But, in general, wake up at 5am and check twitter. Log into the hospital system and check the labs of my patients who are admitted. Then check twitter. Go to the hospital and see my patients. Go to the office - check twitter - and see my patients in clinic. During the day, check twitter and try not go get behind in my paperwork. Generally get home past 7pm - Check twitter - Try to do some prep for The Doctor Anonymous internet radio Show. Check twitter - Sleep - Wake up - and do it all again.

Q.10 Do you ever wish you could go back to being an anonymous Dr. Anonymous?

At times I think about that. But, in talking with people over the past few months, like Kevin MD, to really gain more "credibility" in the medblog community eventually revealing the real name was inevitable. Of course, putting my voice and face on the blog was probably going a little overboard. But, I was never really the type of person to do something half way - all or nothing for me!

Q.11 Do you walk around the house naked?

Only when my webcam is on. Check out DoctorAnonymous.tv for details :) [you must have to pay extra for the nekkid channels, 'cause I didn't see nothin' ~ MA]

Definitely all a blur to me. The only thing I remember was going down to the anatomy lab for the first time. I remember the sights, the sounds, the smell of formaldehyde. One of the first rights of passage when you're a medical student.

Q.14 Whatever happened to Bloggers Anonymous?

Great question. Bloggers Anonymous was a little gimmick thing I thought of to try to get people to read my blog. Of course, being "Addicted To Medblogs" (hehe) is not a new concept. Within the first 10 days of the blog, I wrote something called Bloggers Anonymous. And, the idea became really popular among the people who were reading my blog at the time. And, the idea was that we would have these "meetings" hosted at different blogs. They would start with me saying/writing "Hi, I'm Dr. A. And, I'm a Blogaholic." And people would "bring" food and beverages to the "meetings." I didn't know it at the time, but it was my first attempt at trying to create and grow an online community.

The BA concept resurfaced during the infamous Dr. Flea episode. I posted something called Time To Be Proactive on May 16, 2007 in trying to get the medblog community together - if for anything else - to support each other - especially during that time when there were daily reports of medblogs being deleted and/or going private. I created a group blog called "I'm A Blogaholic" which was active for a few months until things relatively calmed down in the medical blogosphere.

Q.15 Where were you on September 11, 2001?

I completed my Family Medicine Residency in June 2001 and started my new job as a full fledged "real" doctor three months later. On September 11, 2001, I was at my office and heard from some patients that there was something going on in NYC. When I was able to take a little break in the morning, I went to our little break room to watch the TV. Live on television, I saw the 2nd plane go into the tower. At lunch time that day, I gave a medical talk to one of our local community organizations. Needless to say, we didn't talk much medicine for that hour.

Q.16 Who is the most famous person you have ever met?

We didn't sit down and have a beer or anything. But, I remember the first time I saw Tiger Woods in person at a golf tournament. He was actually in the same group as John Daly. These are two of my fave pro golfers. Quite a thrill for a golf hack like to me to see these guys swing a golf club.

Q.17 Will you draw a hand turkey and send it to me so I can post it with your interview?

Uh, I think I'll pass on that. I kind of see some kind of Rorschach analysis test on my "hand turkey" hehe [Rats! He caught me. I already had the "hand turkey" analyst all lined up. I wonder if I can get my deposit back? ~ MA]

Q.18 Reader submitted question (thanks Joanne!):

If you couldn't be a doctor, what would you be?

When I was growing up, I really wanted to be an astronaut. Now? Hmm. Probably an internet talk show host :)

Q.19 And, of course, what color scrubs?

Any color scrubs that make me look like Patrick Dempsey.

Q.20 Thanksgiving QuickFire Questions

Parade or Football? FootballLunch or Dinner? LunchBreast or Drumstick? Both. If I had to pick one – DrumstickStuffing or Dressing? StuffingPecan or Pumpkin? Neither. If it's not chocolate, it's nothing to me heheTurkey Sandwiches or Turkey Soup? I'm a sandwich type of guy

Photo: This is Dr. A tweeting. Dr. A thought he could confuse us by posting a pic of McDreamy on his blog, but we always knew he was really McSteamy. Looks just like Dr. A in his videos, doesn’t it?

Sunday, November 23, 2008

I’m going to try this Twitter thing again. I set it up 93 days ago and have only updated it once. I tried to update when I was standing in a long line at Toys R Us, but by the time I figured out what I was supposed to be doing, it was already my time to check out.

Being a natural born lurker, I know I’m going to have trouble coming up with things to say, but I think I found something that is going to help me out. It says it's “Ideal for the imaginatively challenged”. That’s me.

Friday, November 14, 2008

[I think I am starting to grow out of my "fear of publishing" phase, so I'll have one final "Rejected Post" on Saturday. This has been kinda fun for me. I've never posted six times in one week. This post was rejected because it was stupid, personal and embarrassing.]

I've had a hellacious day. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. The morning started out a fucking nightmare and things got worse as the day wore on. I left work tonight with no self-confidence and zero self-esteem. I was pissed off at myself and the world. I knew swimming laps wasn’t going to be enough to work it off so I went running by myself after dark, secretly hoping I’d get attacked just so I could beat the living shit out of someone. That’s the kind of day it was.

I felt better after my run, the anger was gone but the feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt still lingered. Even the thought of watching Project Runway wasn’t cheering me up.

Then I checked my Sitemeter stats, saw this, and smiled:

At least I didn't have to worry about this kind of thing while I was having my sucky day at work.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

RNPS PICTURES OF THE YEAR - A crocodile at a zoo in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung holds the forearm of a zoo veterinarian in between its teeth, April 11, 2007. The crocodile bit off the arm of the zoo veterinarian treating it, an official reported. .REUTERS/Frank Lin (TAIWAN)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

[I was starting to get bored with my “rejected post” series but now that I’ve decided to publish my really bad posts, it’s starting to get fun. This one is just plain silly.]

Look, I admit that in some ways, I just fell off the turnip truck. It wasn’t until I started my blog that I discovered there was a “medical” porn niche. And I only realized that after receiving my 50th hit for “doktors fuking nurses”. After posting “Porn in Med School”, I began getting daily hits from people googling “med porn” or “medical porn”.

That got me to thinking (and googling) -- there is no lawyer porn:

"medical porn"

"lawyer porn"Oh, there's probably something out there where people are "fuking" in a courtroom, but let's face it, no one's going to create an entire website devoted to naughty lawyers. No one wants to make a movie about lawyers "fuking". Lawyers are boring. So that is why I read medblogs and not blawgs.

[After I wrote the original post, I found this deposition. Lawyer porn. But wouldn't you know it, there's a doctor in the video. BTW, since this is lawyer porn, it's probably safe for work unless your turn the volume up REAL loud. Hell, it's lawyers, it's probably even safe for Grandma.]

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

[I don't know. I just didn't like this post, so I never published it.]

In recognition of Administrative Professionals Week, I will tell you about two of the secretaries we have working here at the firm. Both have two children between the ages of 3 and 8. One is married, one is not.

The married secretary is out at least 5-6 times a month so she can take one or both of her kids, or her husband, to the doctor's office. Seriously, she has never put in a full 40 hour week since she started working here a little over a year ago.

Maybe 1-2 mornings per month, the single secretary will come in looking very tired, saying she was in the ER the night before with one or both of her kids. I hate to say this, but some visits don't sound like emergency visits to me. [One time she told us the ER nurse said her 3 year old son was constipated and to stop feeding him so much cheese. I laughed because I know I’ve read that more than once on the medblogs]. Single secretary is here everyday, usually 15 minutes early.

Monday, November 10, 2008

[It's almost 9 minutes long, but the last few minutes are the most interesting. She gives an Oscar worthy performance. Keep watching after he attacks the videographer -- that's where the medical part comes in.]

Saturday, November 08, 2008

I think my blog has jumped the shark. That doesn’t mean I’m giving the blog up. It may be crappy but it's here to stay.

I can’t bring in a cute new neighbor kid, or blog from an exotic new location, so I've decided to publish “lost” episodes of my blog.

Quite a few of my posts (1) have never seen the light of day; or (2) were pulled after a few hours.

To try and get me out of whatever phase I’m going through, I’ve decided to clean out my Blogger closet and schedule for publishing, twelve of my deleted/never published posts. Some are stupid, some are personal, some I thought might be offensive, some I lost interest in before I finished, and some are just downright really really bad.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Thanks to the diabolical Dr. Dino, I discovered this game last night. Since then, I have learned that I am parallelogramly challenged AND I have no self-discipline (well, I kinda already knew that thing about the lack of self-discipline).

I keep telling myself, I’ll just play until I beat my latest score, then I won’t play again. It’s not even that great of a game. I’m going to play one more time, just to confirm it’s a stupid game, then I'm going to quit playing. Unless I get a bad score, then I’m going to play one more game, just so I won't be quitting on a low note. Yep. That’s the plan.